Sawmill Boiler Explosion Nearly Killed My Second Great-Grandfather

Joseph S. Ramer and Rachael Barbara Reed Ramer

My second great-grandfather Joseph Sylvester Ramer (1832-1900) was a Pennsylvania lumberman. In 1887, he was injured in a sawmill boiler explosion that made headlines across the state. My grandfather Lynne O. Ramer referred to the incident in his writing.

Altoona Times, March 18, 1887



The York Daily, March 18, 1887


The Cambria Freeman, March 25, 1887

Pittsburgh Daily Post, March 18, 1887



I also discovered a Dec. 8, 1896, article in the Altoona Tribune about a Joseph Ramer, lumberman, who was shot in Gallitzin, PA while collecting money! This was Joseph's son Joseph Karner Ramer (1864-1940).

Dec. 15 it reported that he was doing nicely.

And on Dec. 21, he was discharged.

Rachael Barbara Reed Ramer

See photos of Pennsylvania lumbering camps in the late 19th c at Slate Magazine
https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/09/photographs-of-william-t-clarke-capture-life-in-pennsylvania-s-lumbering-camps-in-the-late-19th-century.html

Queen Victoria Jubilee Souvenir Linens

Bobby Brown of Backstreet Quilts in Bad Axe, MI (yes that is a real town name!) spoke to my guild and shared her embroidered and wool appliqué quilts. She also shared  an embroidered linen towel or 'splasher' that I knew right away commemorated Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, 60 years on the throne. A boy is blowing a trumpet with a banner reading "God Save the Queen" over a banner reading "1837- Jubilee-1887".

  

 One edge has a hand knotted fringe.

 

There appears to be initials in red embroidery.

I have a handkerchief celebrating the Golden Jubilee ten years later in 1897.

In 1837 eighteen-year-old Queen Victoria came to the throne.

At the bottom of the handkerchief is, "Four generations, the longest reign on record." The flags include all the countries of Great Britain.

The Queen passed in 1901, the second longest reigning British monarch.